NEW DELHI, Feb 10: Employee Provident Fund (EPF) deposits for 2023–24 will now have a three-year high interest rate of 8.25 percent, according to a decision made by retirement fund authority EPFO on Saturday. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) raised the interest rate on Employee Provident Funds (EPF) in March 2023, moving it up slightly from 8.10 percent in 2021–2022 to 8.15 percent for 2022–2023. EPFO reduced the interest rate on its EPF for 2021–2022 in March 2022, from 8.5% in 2020–2021 to 8.1 percent—a four-decade low—for its more than six crore users. This was the lowest since the EPF interest rate was 8% in 1977–1978.“At its meeting on Saturday, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the highest decision-making body of the EPFO, voted to give an 8.25 percent rate of interest on EPF for 2023–2024,” a source stated. CBT determined in March 2021 that the interest rate on EPF deposits year 2020–21 will be 8.5%. The interest rate on EPF deposits for 2023–2024 will be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for approval following the CBT’s ruling. The interest rate on EPF for 2023–2024 would be credited into the accounts of more than six crore EPFO users following government certification.Only until it has been approved by the government through the ministry of finance does EPFO release the interest rate. The interest rate on provident fund deposits was reduced by EPFO in March 2020 from 8.65 percent for 2018–19 to a seven-year low of 8.5 percent for 2019–20. In 2016–17 and 2017–18, EPFO offered its customers an interest rate of 8.55% and 8.55%, respectively. In 2015–16, the interest rate increased somewhat to 8.8%. The retirement fund body offered an interest rate of 8.75 percent in 2013–14 and 2014–15, which was higher than 8.5 percent in 2012–13. In 2011–12, the interest rate was 8.25 percent.
